Human Rights Defender of Armenia Karen Andreasyan sent a formal request to the metropolitan mayor's office demanding a clarification of the legal basis of a public transit price hike, ARKA reported.
"The only thing that I can say today, without waiting for the municipality to respond is that I was perplexed that 3-4 months ago, the mayor of the city promised not to raise public transport fares. As an ombudsman, an official and as a person, it is interesting to hear the municipality's justification about what has changed during these months," Andreasyan said while meeting with journalists.
The price hike from 100 drams to 150 drams for public transport in Armenia's capital took effect on July 20 and caused great discontent. The protests are being held under the slogan "We will not pay 150 drams!". Protests have been taking place in the capital for four days, calling on citizens not to pay 150 drams for public transport.
The official exchange rate for July 24 is 411.0000 AMD/USD.